Bicycle Pedal Modification

When Gerey Parker
was 16, it must have felt as though life had skipped forward several decades.
It was at this young age that she was diagnosed with rheumatoid arthritis. Early
on, the condition forced her to stop riding a bicycle. Later, it meant a knee
and hip replacement. But Gerey has always adapted to whatever circumstances
life brought her way.

Gerey and her
boyfriend, Rod, live in Richmond, where there are extensive biking trails, but
Gerey was not getting out riding at all. “My daughter just turned 30 and I have
never been on a bike with my kids,” Gerey said, in reference to how long it had
been since she had been on a bike.

This was hard for Gerey,
as she is an adventurous woman who loves the outdoors. But then a former CanAssist
employee, Ryan Truant, who is now a member of her medical support team, encouraged
Gerey to get in touch with us. Getting back on a bike suddenly looked possible.

One of the main
reasons Gerey had difficulty riding a bicycle, was that she could not fully
extend her leg, nor bend it as far back as a regular bicycle demanded. Brandon
Fry, of CanAssist's mechanical engineering team, designed a simple pedal
modification so Gerey could ride comfortably within her range of motion.

“In order to get
rid of the bending motion, we changed the length of the crank,” Brandon says. The
crank is the piece of metal the bicycle pedal attaches to, and Gerey's legs
couldn't bend as much as a traditional crank required.

“I made the
existing crank on her bike adjustable by drilling holes along the length of the
crank about every one inch,” Brandon says. That way, as Gerey adjusted to
riding, she could also adjust the pedals on either side to suit her needs.

Because many of
Gerey's other joints are affected by rheumatoid arthritis, she was accompanied
by Sandra Hundza, a researcher and consultant in motor rehabilitation therapies
at CanAssist, to pick out the most suitable parts for her new bike, such as the
proper handlebars for her wrists and the most supportive seat. Gerey was
excited to choose her new bike, and adamant that her new rig not look different
from anyone else's.

This simple pedal modification
has made cycling possible for Gerey, though getting on and off the bike seems
to still be a bit of a challenge. But Gerey keeps a sense of humour about
herself.

“They say you never
forget how to ride a bike, but it also seems you might forget how to stop and
dismount!” she jokes.

It's probably that
ability to get back up on her bike after a few bumps in the road that explains
how she has made it so far. “With the great weather recently we had three good
rides, also one on Sunday was an hour ride!!!” she wrote to us.

For Gerey, life is
definitely moving forward. And now that she's equipped with a new bicycle
fitted with a special pedal modification, she's moving with the ease and speed
of a 16-year-old again.